This text initially appeared in ‘Hypebeast Journal Difficulty 32: The Fever Difficulty.’ Please go to HBX to seize your copy.
Paris Texas, the Compton-based hip-hop duo, make it some extent to be agnostic about categorizing their music. Their debut album MID AIR doesn’t sway in any specific route or match underneath industry-fueled, catch-all descriptors. When requested about style, members Louie Pastel and Felix as a substitute emphasize that they’re merely writing about life’s emotional highs and lows. The fellows are too busy crafting rhymes about cheeky worldwide rendezvous and heavy-hitting household drama to be involved with pigeonholing their sound or pretending to “say, act, and current [themselves] in a sure means.”
And with a report stuffed with gnarly guitar, static crunches, and flows that typically resemble the staccato screech of a hardcore frontman, the result’s much less “experimental” than intentional, managed chaos. In different phrases, there’s no method or paint-by-numbers template to MID AIR. Some songs get bookended with hallucinatory drum machine beats, whereas others function laidback synths which are fitted to a midnight cruise alongside the 405. The eclectic manufacturing is anchored by Louie Pastel and Felix’s persistently acerbic lyrics, which waver in subject material from the poignant to the hilariously crass.
Authenticity has been a relentless MO for the longtime associates. Since forming in 2018, Paris Texas’s success parallels their current album’s title: They’ve taken off and navigated a whirlwind of recent heights, all whereas staying true to their self-described “goofy” selves. Highlights embody acting at Coachella, showing on journal covers, and racking up dizzying stream counts on an LP they describe as over- caffeinated. They’ve additionally embraced a multimedia strategy to album rollouts, together with complementary brief movies, a online game, and a tripped-out billboard teasing their pageant appearances. “We needed to do our personal factor from the gate,” explains Felix.
It was pure for the duo to translate their relentless vitality right into a cohesive album—a feat they completed by solely “attempting to impress one another,” not different folks. That is additionally emblematic in the best way they craft verses that construct and play off one another, like associates who begin an inside joke and compete so as to add extra to the riff. In the end, the 2 artists have solid one thing that would solely be described as a Paris Texas hitter—a fully-realized, wholly-distinct debut that implies their artistic tempo will maintain revving up from right here.
The place does the pressing, manic vitality that drives MID AIR come from?
Felix: I don’t even know, simply wanting to show up. That want will be felt within the music.
Louie Pastel: Espresso, an excessive amount of espresso. Drink that quantity of caffeine, and the music’s
gonna sound like that.
Felix: I don’t drink espresso.
Louie Pastel: You’re additionally not making the beats…
Felix: Yeah, however I’m yelling on the tracks.
Louie Pastel: However, it’s my vitality that transfers over to you. Now, we each get a contact excessive, really feel me? I’ve a lot caffeine in me.
Paris Texas has been round since 2018, so how do you’re feeling about nonetheless being known as “experimental”?
Felix: It’s form of dumb. I don’t prefer it.
Louie Pastel: I don’t prefer it, both. I don’t suppose we’re that experimental. You understand what’s actually humorous about getting known as that? “Experimental” comes with a sure sort of expectation, like this bizarre field the place you need to say, act, and current your self in a sure means.
Do you guys disagree whereas making music?
Louie Pastel: Not likely.
Felix: I believe we did on the music “…We Fall.” As a result of n*ggas needed it shorter, then they mentioned it was too lengthy. They didn’t need me to rap on it. So, it took even longer [to make] as a result of the one factor you concentrate on is n*ggas not wanting you on the music and considering it ought to be totally different. Then, you get in your head about it. N*gga wrote like 5 totally different verses to that one beat.
Your lyrics embody storytelling, however does something from actual life encourage your music?
Felix: Actually, simply actual life [as a whole]. It takes some time, however you notice how a lot talking your reality and sharing what you’ve skilled in your life will be as heavy-hitting because the wittiest metaphor. You could possibly say the craziest issues about life, however as a result of plenty of experiences or feelings are shared, folks can nonetheless relate. Offering these emotions in your music will resonate greater than being probably the most artistic lyricist with the wordplay stuff. “Earth-2” was about me having an web crush on somebody, however then she began relationship a basketball participant. I by no means knew her, although, so it’s superb. And “Ain’t No Excessive” was impressed by an actual story from when my sister first obtained recognized with schizophrenia.
As Paris Texas turns into extra well-known, how do the artist persona variations of Louie Pastel and Felix evaluate to the precise folks?
Louie Pastel: At this time limit, they’re most likely synonymous.
Felix: It’s exhausting to play between the 2, for certain. I’m a goofy dude.
Louie Pastel: We’re each goofy dudes. As artists, I really feel like Felix might be extra of a caricature of my ideas or feelings—a warped extension of my very own self. I believe it will be totally different if I had extra of a story-driven factor going, however I’ve chosen to make my artist persona nearer to who I’m in actual life.
MID AIR additionally has lyrics about fan interactions. What sort of music followers had been you whereas rising up?
Louie Pastel: I used to be a loopy gatekeeper. I favored having music that no person knew about. I used to be loopy with it once I was youthful. Now, I’m extra open-minded, however again within the day, I obtained off from that. Like, “This band has zero followers, however they’re tight to me.” I like having that private connection between me and the band, rapper, or whoever I favored.
Felix: I used to be nerding out. If I discovered an artist, I used to go down the catalog. It was loopy as a result of it will unveil individuals who labored collectively prior to now, individuals who I didn’t suppose would know one another. I’d be wanting to speak to n*ggas who impressed me with lyrics, beats, and their impression on music, however they’d simply be attempting to get hoes. N*ggas needed to inform me to settle down, so I ended asking.
In a podcast, you talked about rapping on rap-rock beats, that are “often white.” Why are you curious about exploring these cultural flips via your music?
Louie Pastel: I really feel like I grew up in that tradition. I’d get known as “whitewashed” as a result of I favored rock and I believed that was actually humorous. Now that I’ve that in my arsenal, I can use it to my benefit. It’s like, “Let me see what this seems like, let me see if I can play either side.”
Felix: That for certain occurred when n*ggas was rising up. They’d be like, “Why do you speak like that?” I’m like, “What do you imply, bro? I’m simply speaking.” I didn’t suppose it was bizarre. However now it’s loopy as a result of in case you see a white n*gga on the web doing a very clear Nae-Nae, it’s OK. Everyone’s like, “Oh guess, he’s going off.” That’s loopy bro, as a result of I’m rapping over this and persons are like, “No, but when a white n*gga does drill, it’s like, Oh my god…”
How has your musical journey modified your friendship?
Louie Pastel: Not a lot, truthfully. It sucks typically as a result of we’re so used to being associates. When it’s enterprise time, we would have a unique concept of how our processes work. If we had been to go to the studio and make 30 songs like “Full English,” it’d be mad straightforward as a result of that’s how we naturally are, joking round. It turns into attention-grabbing to discover a option to work collectively, versus being homies. I believe the homie a part of it’s important, although. If I ever felt like this undertaking was a detriment to our friendship, I’d most likely stop.
When making MID AIR, was there a second the place you felt such as you had been really taking off?
Louie Pastel: Once we made “Ain’t No Excessive.” That was one of many earlier ones we completed, and I used to be like, “OK, one thing’s getting shaped.” That sounds loopy, however that music was our parachute music—now I do know I’m gonna hit the bottom safely [laughs]. This album is gonna be one thing, even when they hate the 15 different songs, as a result of that is the music everyone’s gonna like.
Felix: I felt actually strongly about “Carry Off” after which the second half of “…We Fall.” Even when it was being performed again later, I’d nonetheless be capable of recall the time after we first recorded it and thought, “Oh shit, that is the outro.” It was loopy.
Why is it vital to launch supplementary materials round your music like brief movies, a online game, and a pre-Coachella billboard?
Felix: We needed to do our personal factor proper out the gate.
Louie Pastel: Folks usually need [to project] a sure concept of themselves. Both they’re pretentious, they wanna be widespread, or no matter else. What they do stems from these needs and that want to be acknowledged—the place we already acknowledged ourselves as being fairly cool. We simply do what we would like with every little thing. We’re attempting to impress one another greater than impress different folks.
Felix: Every part adjustments and evolves over time. Rolling out an album and a brief movie on the identical time would have been quite a bit tougher to do a number of years in the past. Now, everyone’s looking for their very own option to push the usual. It’s just like the developed model of rolling shit out, in case you care to do it.
Do you have got future plans for Paris Texas, or are you figuring it out as issues unfold?
Louie Pastel: We have now it deliberate out.
Felix: We do?
Louie Pastel: I do. You don’t pay attention.
Felix: N*ggas gained’t inform you nothing. I really feel like half-and–half, however shit be altering. Even with MID AIR, there was an concept of what the undertaking was speculated to be, then it modified. Shit be altering…
Louie Pastel: However the skeletal model continues to be there.
Felix: For certain. I’m simply saying: shit be altering.